1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for displaying the functions of a video apparatus such as a television receiver.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There has been known heretofore that, in a television receiver with a relatively large screen, a remote control unit utilizing infrared rays or the like is employed to execute channel selection or sound volume control from a position distant from the television receiver. And when such a remote control unit is manipulated, information that represents the operation state inclusive of the selected channel, the sound volume and so forth is displayed on the screen with characters or a pattern so that a television viewer can confirm the result of his manipulation.
The basic functions of the television receiver such as channel selection and sound volume control are changeable also by directly manipulating the keys provided on the television receiver itself. And in the case of such direct control, similarly to the above, a pattern representing the operation state and so forth is visually displayed on the screen of the television receiver in the same size as that by the remote control.
Generally the size of such display pattern is set to relatively large dimensions so that the television viewer can see it easily from a distant position at the time of remote control. Consequently, during the direct control, the pattern size is larger than actually required and is therefore difficult to see and impedimental to the picture being received.
Relative to video tape recorders also, an operation mode such as playback, fast forward or rewind is displayed on the screen of a receiver for both remote control and direct control and consequently raise the same problem as the above.